The invention disclosed herein is a machine for rotating and inverting articles such as female sanitary pads, as they advance along a production line. Sanitary pads are the articles which will be used to demonstrate the structure and function of the new machine but it should be understood that the machine can be used to rotate and invert other articles, too.
Sanitary pads are typically oblong objects comprised of a core of fluid absorbent material encased in a sheath of fluid permeable material. When the pads are discharged from the output of the pad fabricating machine to a conveyor, they are moving lengthwise. The last operation is usually the application of stiff paper that is coated with a release material.
Before stacks of pads are pushed into cartons or bags in a packaging machine, it is common practice to fold them to form two or three layers and encapsulate them in individual packages. This allows the user to remove one wrapped pad at a time from the carton and carry it in a purse, for instance, for use when occasion arises. Prefolding results in the pad being shortened and made more compact to make it easier to carry in a relatively small purse.
A pad must be folded with the relatively stiff release material coated strip on the outside of the fold so it does not wrinkle. Folding machines are so designed that it is necessary to convey the pads to the input of the machine while their long dimension is transverse to the direction in which they are moving on the conveyor to facilitate folding. If the pads come out of the fabricating machine with the release strip on the top side and moving in their lengthwise direction, it is necessary to invert the pads and rotate them 90.degree. before they are packaged individually. The machine described herein rotates the pads 90.degree. and also inverts them in an uninterrupted sequence.